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Sti Trubor


JRD83

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Would the STI Trubor make a good open gun for someone just starting out? Talk to STI earlier today, and if I order now it would be ready June 15th. Still havent decided between 9mm Major and .38 Super. I guess I'm just a little nervous about loading up the 9mm Majors. I have also considered having a gun built, but I guess I dont know enough about what I should get and what I shouldnt get. I'm very familiar with the 1911's but this will be my first run with a 2011 open gun.

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I think a trubor is a decent way to get started. I would purchase the gun from a smith who will do a reliability/performance check for a small fee though. They may even have it in stock and can get it to you quicker than June (depending on their work load.)

Reliability is the #1 concern for me and having it checked over from the beginning (instead of having issues, shipping it back and forth, etc.) will save you a lot of $ and headaches.

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My friend used to have a truborcomp with a hybrid barrel. No hiccups or problems encountered. What I would do is to wait and see out there if you can buy a used open gun that has low round count with good ownership.

Please check shooters connection, dawson and brazos customs. I think they have it in stock. Goodluck on your new open gun.

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How do the Trubors feel shooting major 9 vs a semi custom or full custom? I to have been looking at one to start out with. I would definately have the tunning package done, but i quess i would like to know how it handles. Is is violent? Flat? Would it be better to save more money and go for a semi custom, although from Brazos they are considerbly more money.

Do major 9 guns in general slap your hand pretty hard?

Sorry for all the questions, as i'm just now basicly starting to look at open guns.

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I purchased a .38super TRUBOR from Brazos last fall, one that he had in stock. Had him do a basic trigger job on the existing Trubor parts. Not having shot open, I didn't know what I wanted, and what I didn't. I decided the Trubor would be a good way to start. If I ever decide to have a gun built the way I want, I figure I'll have it as a backup gun.

I'm pretty happy with it so far, though I have not yet shot a match with it (all the local stuff has gotten rained out for the next couple weeks, too). I've put about 1k rounds through it so far, trying to learn the timing, trouble shooting, etc. I had to do some tuning on the extractor, it was riding too far fwd and gouging the taper fwd of the groove on the brass. A few minutes with a stone fixed that, plus I rounded the bottom corners of the extracter a little more. Every now and then it would hang up while feeding due to the bad extractor setup. I've only put a few rounds through it since fixing it, but so far so good.

I also modified the slide stop to keep the slide from locking back (cut back the lip on the ss, and cut back the followers, and dimpled the ss so the plunger would hold it). I did this after buying Gram guts after pulling the spring out of one of my new 170mm mags in a big knot the first time I used it..... It seems the Gram follower must ride higher or something as the slide was locking back WAY too soon. So my minor mag problem led to a whole string of extra work...

Now that everything seems to be running and I'm getting used to driving the dot, I can't wait to get running in OPEN! :)

rvb

Edited by rvb
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I think a trubor is a decent way to get started. I would purchase the gun from a smith who will do a reliability/performance check for a small fee though. They may even have it in stock and can get it to you quicker than June (depending on their work load.)

Reliability is the #1 concern for me and having it checked over from the beginning (instead of having issues, shipping it back and forth, etc.) will save you a lot of $ and headaches.

OK, I guess I'm gonna have to play devil's advocate here.

I too am eagerly wanting to break into Open class, but have had a heck of a time trying to figure out which gun to go with. I am VERY far away from having much in the way of gunsmithing skills, and to be quite honest, am just not too damned mechanically inclined.

Price is a major factor for me. That being said, $2,500.00 for a Tru-Bor is not a small chunk for me, so $3,000, $4,000, and up is even that much more.

Here is where I guess I'll be stirring the ol' $hit pot if you will. I have only been in the game of competitive handgun shooting for less than four years, and it seems to me from all of the matches I've been to and all of the info I've read that STI's are about the top of the game. Why then can anyone justify spending several thousand dollars on a gun that may or may not work??? Why should you have to have a "performance check" done on a gun that costs more than a decent used car? It seems to me that when you drop that kind of cash, the damn thing had better not just run, but had better run it's @ss off for a long time to come! I've posted more than a couple of threads on this and other forums asking for help in deciding what gun to go with, and all I ever seem to hear are the same old "you better watch out for this, and you'd better watch out for that" in a 1911/2011 type of gun.

I've posted several other threads requesting info about Glock Open guns, mostly those from S & J Custom. Not once have I heard anything at all in the negative about their products. And seeing as how I can get them to build me a gun and get two or three "big stick" mags for the base cost of an STI Tru-Bor without any mags, can someone PLEASE tell me why the hell I shouldn't get one and just forget about these damned 1911/2011 high price some/seemingly most-time flunkys????? I just can not find logic in paying several thousand bucks for something that's gonna require another grand or so to get to work the way it should.

All of that said, I do own one Glock, and four 1911 style guns. I have three single stacks and a Para Hi-Cap. The Glock is the only gun that I've never, in several thousand rounds, had the first problem with. Don't start getting the idea that I'm a Glock nut and have it out for 1911's. I actually prefer the feel of a 1911, and am a self confessed "gear snob", so I'd love the have a top end Brazo's, Dawson, Bedell, etc. to make mouths water at the local shows. But I can't find a bit of logic in why I should shell out several "G's" to have what looks the best if it don't run the best without having to be screwed with a bunch???!!! If STI is so "good", why do they require performance enhancement?? Shouldn't that be built in from the start???

Can anyone give me a decent explanation here?

Edited by Rather-B-Huntin
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Rather-B-Huntin, in response to your comments about STI guns, a lot of my fellow shooters have their guns built by smith(custom built) due to a lot of reasons such as reaming the chamber to loads longer bullets, reliability feed tune up, stippled grip, choices of their parts they want to use and etc.There is nothing wrong with STI guns but for sake of tinkering and making the gun the way you want it to work, you will have to spend that money. I've seen a lot of STI open guns that my friends shoot (coming from factory)and they still have to spend that extra money for the reliability package. I don't think the perofmance package comes with it right out of the box. Those are extras.

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Trubors in 9mm major..come with the proper relief in the bore for long loads.

They shoot flat and smooth. A little loud :D

I hear lots of people get custom guns and they run perfect, maybe?

Any gun will require maintenance from time to time.

Both my guns are good guns. I have had some tuning issues, but no real problems.

Glocks are solid dependable guns!!! and I don't like them, (wrong grip angle for me)

if YOU CAN'T WORK ON GUNS, GET A TOP OF THE LINE CUSTOM!!

If you can tune and work on them..or can learn to....save a few bucks.

Its your $$$ and your decision.

there are some awsome smiths out there..and some pretty good over the counter guns too!!

just my 2c worth

PS my troublesome trubor ran a full match today error free...I wish I could say the same <_<

Jim

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"I just can not find logic in paying several thousand bucks for something that's gonna require another grand or so to get to work the way it should."

I don't think anyone has suggested that it would cost $1000 to get a factory STI gun to work the way it should. I think the typical tuning package is about $150 give or take a bit.

There are a lot of factors that come into play when you start talking about guns and price. STI is trying to sell a good product at a competitive price. They're not trying to sell something that is perfect for everyone. Granted, I won't argue that they should run out of the box, and some do, but a race gun is never going to be all that simple compared with a standard gun. You've got all kinds of things that can go wrong...the ammo alone alters things...what angle it ejects at...will it hit the scope/mount? Will it cycle the gun with the spring package installed...the list goes on. A factory gun has to be somewhere in the middle of things so that you can then tune it for how you're going to be using it.

When you start talking custom guns you're really talking about making it personalized so that it's what you want, not what anybody else wants...that's where you're talking the extra grand or two.

I own four Glocks and stake my life on them day in, day out, but I compete with a 1911/2011 because I can shoot them better. If that wasn't the case I'd happily compete with a Glock/XD/M&P etc. and laugh all the way to the bank :D

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Rather-B-Huntin, in response to your comments about STI guns, a lot of my fellow shooters have their guns built by smith(custom built) due to a lot of reasons such as reaming the chamber to loads longer bullets, reliability feed tune up, stippled grip, choices of their parts they want to use and etc.There is nothing wrong with STI guns but for sake of tinkering and making the gun the way you want it to work, you will have to spend that money. I've seen a lot of STI open guns that my friends shoot (coming from factory)and they still have to spend that extra money for the reliability package. I don't think the perofmance package comes with it right out of the box. Those are extras.

Thanks for making my point. The guns come from the factory and still need tuned. And in response to Merlin, if a Robert Yates engine needs tuning after it leaves the shop, then the thing should have stayed in the shop until it was right (or he should have just let the Childress guys build him one). The same way I feel these guns should stay in the shop until they're right. The more feedback I get, the more I seem to realize that Open class is a high priced headache that I should probably stay away from.

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A working Open gun is a thing of joy. A non-reliable one is a frustrating headache. Think of it as a 400 RPM motor where you swap out the piston every revolution.

The 'built-to-race-right-from-the-shop' STI is the Grandmaster-- they put a bunch of rounds through it to check it out and everything. It also costs more because it takes more work to do that.

The more-stock guns work fine, to use the auto-analogy, as daily-drivers, or even the odd auto-x on sunday afternoon, but might need some tuning before you'd want to race them 24 hours at Daytona.

A little known fact is even custom guns aren't 'perfect', even though they may appear that way to mere mortals. There's always a point where the smith has to stop and say 'that's good enough', because the customer won't pay for any more labor. TJ once said he puts an extra 10-20 hours into every full-house brand-new custom gun he gets-- polishing this, tweaking that. The rest of us would just shoot it and never care.

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Rather-B-Huntin, I can understand to a point where you are coming from. This will be my first open gun, and the STI Trubor is about the best value out there I think. Even at $2400 its alot of money to spend on a new pistol, considering I dont know much about them, and have no idea how to work on or maintence them. I spoke with Dawson on Friday though, and for like $300 they will tune it up and have it plated for you. I think thats a heck of a deal.

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I spoke with Dawson on Friday though, and for like $300 they will tune it up and have it plated for you. I think thats a heck of a deal.

I figured a minimum of $125 for the tune up. That's only $175 for the HC. Very good deal.

Did they say what kind of delivery time you are looking at?

Bill

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It was only like 3 weeks, and thats just because of the plating. The $300 wasnt exact, but very close. I couldnt remeber the exact numbers he gave me. I think it was like $2350 for the pistol, and it was $2650 for the work, and plating. So thats a heck of a deal as far as I'm concerned.

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Thanks for making my point. The guns come from the factory and still need tuned. And in response to Merlin, if a Robert Yates engine needs tuning after it leaves the shop, then the thing should have stayed in the shop until it was right (or he should have just let the Childress guys build him one). The same way I feel these guns should stay in the shop until they're right. The more feedback I get, the more I seem to realize that Open class is a high priced headache that I should probably stay away from.

While it's not what I would call common knowledge, when you buy or lease an engine from one of the big names they actually send an engine tuner to the track with your team during a race weekend to make sure it gets dialed in right. When it leaves the shop it's NOT ready to race...it's got all the right parts, but needs to be tuned for the conditions.

If you compare factory guns to custom guns you'll notice some obvious differences. Custom guns are designed around much more specific criteria....like having the builder specify one or two loads that the gun was designed around. Use those one or two loads and the gun is going to run 100%. A factory gun is in the middle ground. It's set up so that you can tune it to the load you want to use rather than already being set up for a load(s) in mind from the start.

They call them raceguns because they're like race cars in many ways. You can't build a race car that will work perfectly on every track for every driver with no changes. They build and tune/adjust race cars for specific tracks/drivers just like smiths tune or adjust raceguns for specific ammo and shooters. It's not simple or cheap, but going fast rarely is :)

Edited by G-ManBart
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They call them raceguns because they're like race cars in many ways. You can't build a race car that will work perfectly on every track for every driver with no changes. They build and tune/adjust race cars for specific tracks/drivers just like smiths tune or adjust raceguns for specific ammo and shooters. It's not simple or cheap, but going fast rarely is :)

That's about as simple and precise as it could have been put. I guess if I'd have thought a bit harder and used they same analogy (one I'm fairly familiar with), I wouldn't have wasted so much time yesterday in my lengthy response.

I guess I know more about NASCAR than I do guns. Oh well, the race is getting ready to start and I'm outta beer :o

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It was only like 3 weeks, and thats just because of the plating. The $300 wasnt exact, but very close. I couldnt remeber the exact numbers he gave me. I think it was like $2350 for the pistol, and it was $2650 for the work, and plating. So thats a heck of a deal as far as I'm concerned.

You can get a custom pistol for that kind of money.

http://www.cpwsa.com/hardy_custom.htm

Edited by BrianATL
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